Again, a very obvious choice for me, being a jazz musician ;). The Bimhuis is really legendary! Great jazz artists like John Scofield claim that it’s one of their top-ten venues to play at in the world. It’s because the setting is intimate with a max. of ca. 400 seated people, the sound is great and the audience is lovely. The ‘old’ Bimhuis opened in 1974 and was originally the home of the ‘Trade union of improvising musicians’. In 2005, the ‘new’ Bimhuis opened its doors to the public. It’s technically much more advanced, has more comfortable seats etc but was built in such a way that the overall shape and the atmosphere still remind you of the original building.
The Bimhuis has like 300 concerts a year, the choice of artists is excellent and the curators are definitely not afraid of experimental, adventurous, avant-garde music. But next to free improvised music and modern jazz, they also feature crossovers with world music, pop music, electronic music.
I always love going there, be it to see beautiful new projects of my local friends, new stuff coming over from the U.S.A or my all-time favourite international stars.
